


Interesting Order

by megastarstrike



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Ice Cream Parlors, M/M, mention of a pet dying, mention of tenmiko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 10:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13246059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megastarstrike/pseuds/megastarstrike
Summary: In Shuuichi's experience, ice cream parlors tended to have the tamer customers, even if most of their consumer base was screaming children and their parents. That meant monotonous days of making the same order over and over again and days where he would spend every hour of his shift weighed down by boredom. For the longest time, he thought that would never change.He was soon proved wrong.





	Interesting Order

As a worker in an ice cream shop, Shuuichi never saw anything interesting besides a child throwing a temper tantrum and maybe a disgruntled parent fighting their ex if he was lucky. At this point, he had accepted that he would never see anything beyond that, and he was content with that. But then again, he also hadn’t seen a boy this cute walk into his ice cream shop, so maybe something would change.

The boy in question wore a white uniform and a checkered scarf. He walked in with a taller man with piercings and green hair, scanning the area before his gaze stopped on Shuuichi.

Shuuichi froze when their eyes met, as did the boy.

After around five seconds, the boy tore his eyes away and retreated to a table for two.

The other man chuckled and approached the counter.

“Hello, how may I help you today?” Shuuichi asked, his customer service persona taking over.

The man smiled back politely. “I’ll have waffle cone with mint ice cream. My friend has a rather complex order, though… Do you want to get prepared for that?”

Shuuichi took his pen and padlet out the front pocket of his uniform.

“Okay, so he’s gonna have chocolate ice cream in a chocolate waffle cone. He wants chocolate sprinkles and chocolate kisses on it, too. Oh, and chocolate syrup. He says there should be whole pieces of chocolate in there too, but don’t put that in. I’m not letting that happen.”

“Why so much chocolate?” Shuuichi asked, writing the order down.

The man sighed, and the light in his eyes died out. “My friend got it in his head that trying out all the chocolate ice cream in the state would be a great idea. Not a great idea for his health, but he wouldn’t listen to me.” His demeanor returned to its friendly state. “But I think he might come here more often.”

Shuuichi gave the man a sympathetic smile before passing off the piece of paper to his coworker. “That’ll be ten dollars, sir.”

“Thanks for the help,” the man said, handing over the money. “Oh, and my friend’s name is Kokichi. Thought you would want to know that.”

Before Shuuichi could respond, the man moved onto talking with the coworker making the ice cream.

Shuuichi’s gaze fell on the man’s friend (Kokichi, he corrected).

Kokichi perked up as soon as the man brought over their ice cream. “Thanks, Rantarou! Do you have the change?”

“Yeah, here.” Rantarou handed the change back and started to bite into his ice cream, nodding along with Kokichi’s critique on the ice cream.

Shuuichi couldn’t help but smile at Kokichi’s excitement before helping the next customer. His day had gotten infinitely more interesting.  
  


*  
  


The very next day, Kokichi walked into the ice cream shop again, this time a woman with long blue hair and glasses beside him.

The woman smiled at the surroundings. “This looks like a great place for my next meeting. Thank you, Kokichi.”

“You know, Tsumugi, you can just say that this is for you and your D&D nerds. You don’t have to hide it.”

Tsumugi looked as if she was going to scold him before regaining her composure and approaching the counter.

“Hello, how may I help you today?” Shuuichi asked, biting back a laugh at the earlier scene.

“Hi, I’ll just have a scoop of vanilla ice cream,” Tsumugi said. She sighed before adding, “My idiot friend will have a chocolate and pistachio flavored scoop with nuts, crushed oreos, and gummy worms. He wants two raisins in there, too.”

“Uh…”

“Yeah. Like I said, idiot. That’s ten dollars, right?”

“Right.”

Tsumugi handed him the money before moving on, leaving Shuuichi on his own.

The second Tsumugi was handed her order, she slammed Kokichi’s ice cream down on the table, her face red from anger. “Kokichi, I can _not_ believe you found a way to turn ice cream into Shrek.”

Kokichi only responded with hysterical laughter.

Shuuichi’s heart picked up at the laughter, and he found himself unable to look away from their table. He couldn’t help but look forward to Kokichi’s next order.  
  


*  
  


Nothing of importance happened until a week passed.

“Kokichi! Did you seriously just push me into traffic, you little shit? I’m gonna strangle you!”

Shuuichi knew he shouldn’t be laughing, but he was.

Kokichi strolled into the ice cream shop with a grin. “Nuh uh, Miu. Not in front of all these little kids.”

“What kids? The only thing I see in here is a sad, sad excuse of a twenty-something year old.”

It soon became clear that Shuuichi was the only other person in the room.

Kokichi pouted and flicked her arm. “Hey! Be nice to my favorite worker! I’m gonna go sit down.” He rushed into a booth with his face in his hands, but he couldn’t cover up his neck slowly becoming redder and redder.

Miu stared after him before a mischievous grin spread across her face. She approached the counter. “Hey, cuck, I’ll have a strawberry ice cream cone. My shitty friend over there’s too shy to even talk to you, so I’m ordering for him.”

“Shut up, you dick-loving bitch!” Kokichi shouted from the booth.

Drool dripped down Miu’s chin. She shuddered before regaining her composure. “Okay, so listen. It’s a grape flavored ice cream cone with crushed oreos, gummy worms, and tons of powdered sugar.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Our bitch professor just changed the due date on us. We’re pulling an all-nighter tonight to finish up an assignment.”

“... That’ll be ten dollars.”

Miu handed over the money in exchange for her order. She ran back to the booth and slammed the bowl of ice cream next to a stack of papers Kokichi had set out. “Here’s your ice cream, you shitty brat. Now can we get started on the assignment?”

They continued to chat for a good hour as other customers filtered in and out, cringing at their dialogue. Shuuichi would have kicked them out if it wasn’t so entertaining.

When Shuuichi caught sight of his reflection on the shiny counter, he found himself smiling and slightly red.  
  


*  
  


“Kokichi, I actually want to kill you.”

“For what? Mars Incident of ’12? Accidental Murder of ‘04? Cutting off your goatee while you were asleep?”

“That was _you?_ ”

“Go on, take your pick, Kaito.”

Shuuichi looked at the two men standing in front of the door, equal parts curious and horrified. Mars Incident? Accidental Murder? He wasn’t sure he even wanted to know.

Kaito mumbled something under his breath before approaching the counter and giving Shuuichi a grin. “Yo, what’s up, man? I’ll take a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and my enemy—”

“You know you love me!” Kokichi shouted from a booth.

Kaito sighed before continuing. “Yeah, _enemy_ will have a scoop of mint chocolate chip and a scoop of grape with a layer of peanut butter and a bunch of actual grapes.”

Shuuichi stared at him blankly.

“Yeah, my friend’s weird.”

“Nishishi! Caught you!” Kokichi called out, pointing a finger at him.

“What? What did I…” Kaito scowled when he realized what he had just said. “Listen up, you little shit, we’re not friends!”

“How could that be if you just said it yourself?”

“That’ll be ten dollars,” Shuuichi muttered, taking a step back.

Kaito snapped back to the order and handed him the money. “You know what the little shit did? We made a plan so I could act like him during this mandatory group meeting thing over voice call since he couldn’t be there, right?”

“Wait, why not?”

Kaito looked around before hesitantly leaning in and whispering, “I’m not sure, something about his dog.” His voice returned to its normal volume. “He literally wrote a three hundred page script on how to talk like him and what to say to other people in the group.

“That’s…”

“Yeah. It’s bound and everything. I don’t know how I’m supposed to flip through all the pages while still talking.”

“Hurry up, Kaito!” Kokichi called.

Kaito whipped around to him with a raised, clenched fist. “Shut the fuck up, you prick! I’m winging for you!”

Kokichi’s mouth clamped shut immediately.

“Anyway, that’s my dumbass friend for you. I hope you have a better day than I’m gonna have stuck with him all day,” Kaito said, taking two bowls of ice cream from Shuuichi’s coworker before returning to his booth. “Do I really need to do your stupid laugh?”

Kokichi snickered and popped a grape into his mouth. “Yup! Repeat after me, Kaito. Nishishi!”

“... Nishishi.”

Shuuichi fought to keep his laughter down, his heart racing upon hearing Kokichi’s signature laugh. As weird as it was, Shuuichi couldn’t help but think it suited him perfectly.  
  


*  
  


When Kokichi walked in a month later with his feet dragging on the floor and his face still wet from tears, Shuuichi knew that it hadn’t been anything close to a good day. Two girls, one with short, red hair and the other with green ribbons braided into her hair, walked alongside him. They sat down in a booth together.

Shuuichi immediately grabbed a scooper and a bowl before making the most ridiculous order he could think of. He looked down on his creation: grape and mango flavored ice cream with gummy bears, nuts, and crushed oreos with a heap of powdered sugar added on top. He hesitated before grabbing a chocolate heart and putting it on top of the whipped cream he had applied before and adding three spoons. He turned to his coworker and asked, “Hey, Maki, can you hold my station for a moment?”  
  
Maki wrinkled her nose at the order but nodded.

Shuuichi exited the staff area and headed towards the booth, where he dropped the order on the table.

All three of them stared at him blankly.

“Uh, I noticed that… um… here, it’s on the house,” Shuuichi sputtered out before retreating to his work station.

A few moments after he retreated, a scream came from the booth.

“Kokichi! You got ice cream in my hair!”

“Nishishi! You’re my sister, you should know how to dodge simple things like that by now.”

A clatter. “You menace! Apologize to Himiko right now!”

Shuuichi smiled, and his heart felt a little lighter.

Later that night when Kokichi exited the store with one of the woman he had walked in with, the tall one with braided hair approached him. “You! Degenerate!”

Shuuichi stopped cleaning to turn to her. “Yes? How can I help you?”

She lost her brash demeanor immediately in favor of a more subdued, careful one. “Tenko just wanted to say… uh… she really appreciates what you did for her girlfriend and her girlfriend’s brother there.”

_They were siblings?_

They looked nothing alike, but Shuuichi kept his mouth shut as the woman (presumably Tenko) resumed her explanation.

“Himiko said it was okay for me to tell you this, so…” Tenko took a deep breath. “Their dog died yesterday. It’s been hard for both of them, but you going out of your way to make their day better really cheered them up. But make no mistake!” Her eyes turned sharp. “If you ever make a move on Himiko, then Tenko will have no choice but to come after you!”

“I have no intention of doing so.” He instead thought back to the other guest in their trio.

Tenko clapped her hands together and bowed. “Then goodnight. Again, thank you.”

“Goodnight.”

She exited the shop.

Shuuichi cleared the remaining couple of tables before locking up the store for the night, his heart heavy with the new information he had received. He wished he could do more to help, but he knew there was only so much he could do about it.

And so he walked back to his apartment and slept to forget.  
  


*  
  


It was three months later when Kokichi came back on the back of a large man carrying a butterfly net.

“Yes, Gonta, we can do the insect meet-and-greet, but can we stop by here for awhile?” Kokichi asked as they walked in. “I’m just really tired. It’ll be all your fault if I collapse, you know.”

The man, Gonta, nodded furiously, frightened at the thought of his friend dropping dead. “Be careful, Kokichi! Gonta doesn’t want his friend to end up dead!

“I’m going to order ice cream for us. Take a seat, okay?”

Gonta sat down at a booth out of vision.

Kokichi ran up to the counter and squinted to see Shuuichi’s nametag.

“Hello, how may I help you today?” Shuuichi asked, his heart fluttering in his chest.

“Hi, Shuuichi! I just have one favor to ask of you.” The grin on Kokichi’s face slid off. “My friend’s doing an insect meet-and-greet, but I really don’t want to go. Can you hide me here and tell him I died or something?”

“... What?” Shuuichi smiled when the realization hit him. “Are you afraid of bugs?”

“No, I’m not afraid of anything,” Kokichi said, but it was clear that he was becoming more and more frantic as each second passed.

“Sorry, but it’s against store policy to allow customers back here.”

Kokichi pouted. “Aw, and here I was thinking my favorite employee could help me out.”

“Sorry, you’re on your own for this. Flattery won’t get you anywhere,” Shuuichi said.

Kokichi sighed and ordered. He returned to his booth and set the ice cream on the table before suddenly tripping and falling to the floor. “Ow!”

Gonta kneeled by his side immediately. “Kokichi! Are you alright?”

“No! I think my ankle broke. I might need to go to the hospital.”

“Don’t worry, Gonta will carry you like a true gentleman!”

“Wait, Gonta, I don’t think that's nece—”

Gonta lifted Kokichi off the ground and rushed out of the ice cream shop, on the verge of tears as he asked someone for directions to the hospital.

Shuuichi looked away and bit back his laughter before attending to the next customer.

It was nice to see that Kokichi was back.  
  


*  
  


Next to no customers came at midnight, even though they were technically open until two in the morning. It was an unwritten rule that anyone who came in at one o’clock was not to be trusted.

Huh. Now that Shuuichi thought about it, he guessed it wasn’t too surprising to see Kokichi walk in wearing a white tuxedo and cape with a blonde woman in a light purple dress.

Shuuichi stared at their linked arms and felt his hopes shatter. Of course the cute boy who called him his favorite employee and made his day fun had a girlfriend.

Then they unlinked their arms and laughed hysterically, Kokichi even falling to the floor in his laughter.

“I can’t believe they actually fell for that,” the woman said through her laughter, wiping a tear from her eye.

“See? You should trust me more, Miss Akamatsu,” Kokichi said, slowly getting back up. “When you want to leave a work function early, say your daughter set your house on fire! That always works.”

“How many times have I told you to call me Kaede outside of work? I’m your coworker, not your boss.”

Kokichi ignored her and waved. “Hi, Shuuichi! Look, Kaede, it’s my favorite employee!”

Kaede’s gaze darted back and forth between Kokichi and Shuuichi before her eyes sparkled in realization. “Oh, that’s nice. You must be the Shuuichi that Kokichi’s been talking about all day. You wouldn’t mind splitting an ice cream sundae with us, would you?”

Two pairs of eyes widened, but for different reasons.

“Kaede,” Kokichi whispered, “If this is revenge for the stapler incident of ‘07, I’ve already apologized for that.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“S-Sorry, but I’m the only employee working here,” Shuuichi said. He picked up the sundae dish in an effort to make himself look busy. “If I leave and there’s another customer, then I’ll be in big trouble.”

Both Kaede and Kokichi stared at him.

The more time passed, the more Shuuichi was starting to think that it was a good idea, even though it clearly wasn’t.

“... Okay. I’ll make it.” Shuuichi screamed internally while Kaede cheered. “By the way, what was the stapler incident of ‘07? And why are you dressed in fancy clothes?”

Kaede sighed. “Kokichi decided it would be a great idea to try to braid a stapler into my hair while I was sleeping. And then I woke up. Long story short, he stapled my hair to the back of my chair.”

“It was an accident,” Kokichi protested, holding a finger up. “And we just came back from a really boring work party. I would much rather hang out here with you than go back and deal with our boss. She’s such a _bitch._ ”

“Not the exact wording I would use, but I agree,” Kaede said.

Shuuichi finished making the sundae and set it at their table as the two rambled about their boss, who seemed like the reincarnation of the devil with the way they were describing it. They exchanged stories like they were gossiping teenagers.

“If you think that was bad, imagine having her rip into your work in front of everyone at work,” Kaede said, wincing at the experience. “She insulted my skirt, and it was the exact same skirt she was wearing.”

“Yeah, I pointed that out.”

“And she yelled at me to go change because of that. Thanks, Kokichi.”

“You’re welcome.”

Kaede turned to Shuuichi. “And you? What brought you to work here?”

Shuuichi’s eyes widened, and he pointed at himself. “M-Me?”

“Yeah!” Kokichi added, leaning foward with sparkling eyes.

“Um… I just needed a place to work to get enough money to pursue my criminology degree. It’s honestly not that bad of a job though,” Shuuichi explained. “I have this one guy that comes in every week or two and makes the most ridiculous orders ever. Keeps my job interesting, you know?”

“Oh? Is he cute?” Kaede asked, sending a smirk in Kokichi’s direction, who was steadily growing redder and redder as the conversation continued.

Shuuichi’s gaze rested on Kokichi. “Yeah.”

“Would you go on a date with him?”  
  
“Fine! You win!” Kokichi slapped down a couple of bills on the table and fled the shop.

Shuuichi stared at the door, horrified as Kaede’s laughter died out.

Kaede shot him a quick text before turning back to Shuuichi. “Don’t worry about him. I’m sure he’s fine. Just a little nervous about being exposed in front of his crush.”

“H-His crush?”

“Yeah.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “You’re telling me you never knew? The only reason why everyone in our friend group decided to come with him here was to make fun of him.”

“Are you sure you should be telling me this?”

“I’m just giving him a push in the right direction,” Kaede said. She bit her lip. “So? Would you really say yes to the whole date thing with him?”

Shuuichi looked down, his face red. “Um… yes, I would. It’s totally his choice though, I don’t—”

“Great! Thanks for hanging out with us.” She said her goodbyes and paid for the ice cream before walking out with her eyes glued to her phone screen. Shuuichi could almost make out a text message to her reading “thanks.”  
  


*  
  


“Hold on, Angie! I think I dropped one of your paintings!”

“No, you didn’t. If you did, I would have killed you and sacrificed your blood to Atua.”

“Thanks. Nice to know you have my back.”

Shuuichi bit back a smile upon hearing a familiar voice. He greeted a customer as Kokichi walked in with a blonde woman in a yellow jacket, both hauling huge canvases and paintbrushes. He tried not to burst out laughing as they finally settled down in a booth, only to have one of the paintbrushes fall out of the woman’s pocket.

The woman picked up the paintbrush and walked to the counter, none of her energy missing. “Hey, Mister Person-That-My-Friend-Totally-Doesn’t-Have-A-Crush-On! Can I order?” She rattled off her order before Shuuichi could respond and bounced away with the ice cream after paying.

“Angie!” Kokichi whisper-shouted once she returned to their booth. “How could you do that do me?”

“Revenge for the Pig Blood Incident of ‘06.”

Shuuichi didn’t want to know what _that_ was about, but that was all the confirmation he needed.

Shuuichi resumed his work day after they left. After the shop closed, he grabbed his pen and a napkin from his workstation and scribbled down a sequence of numbers on it.  
  


*  
  


“Kokichi Ouma. I love you, you’re my best friend and honorary little brother. But also, you’re being a bitch, and I hate the way you’re acting.”

“No, wait, Rantarou—”

“No, You are _not_ getting out of this. Do you know how many of us had to watch you pine for this long? It was funny at first, but now I’m pretty sure that half of us want to kill you.”

Shuuichi could only watch in half horror and half amusement as Kokichi was dragged into the ice cream shop by the man he first came in with (Rantarou, was it?). From what he had gotten from their first meeting, Rantarou seemed patient enough to deal with Kokichi’s chocolate adventures. He couldn’t help but wonder what broke the camel’s back.

“You blew half your paycheck on ice cream here!”

Oh.

“Hey, you can’t put a price on love,” Kokichi shot back, holding a finger up. That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as Rantarou grabbed him by the collar and marched them up to the counter.

Shuuichi froze under his harsh glare. “Uh…”

“Give me your phone.”

He handed over his phone without a second thought.

Rantarou tapped on the keyboard before handing it back, his frustration now mostly dissipated. He gave a friendly smile to Shuuichi. “Sorry about that scene earlier. I put in the little gremlin’s number for you.”

“Here!” Shuuichi said, holding out the napkin he had prepared the previous day to Kokichi. “T-This is my number, too. Would you like to… go on a date with me sometime?”

Any trace of confidence disappeared from Kokichi, who nodded and took the napkin. He pocketed it before running out of the store with Rantarou in tow.

Shuuichi looked at his contacts, only to see the new number as “Fucking Purple Gremlin.” A new text came in right after he changed the name.

 **Kokichi:** are you free tonight?  
**Shuuichi:** Yeah, I get off work at seven today.  
**Kokichi:** then do you want to see a movie with me tonight?  
**Shuuichi:** I would love to.

“Shuuichi!” Maki called, “Get off your phone and get back to work!”

Shuuichi put his phone away to address the next customer in line, still slightly red from the exchange. Despite the reprimand, he found himself giddy and waiting for his shift to finally end.

He couldn’t wait until seven o’clock.


End file.
